MAIN HALL IMPROVEMENTS
Date: December - February 2025
Funded by: UK Shared Prosperity Fund via HM Government
Project Manager: Jon Betts
Over the past year The Bank has continued gaining momentum in attracting new and larger audiences, however the pre-existing facilities became increasing insufficient and limited the quality and scale of activities we could offer. A Match funding package from UK Shared Prosperity Fund via HM Government (distributed by Babergh & Mid Suffolk District Council Rural Culture & Creativity Fund) supported the phased improvement the facilities in our Main Hall, which is the primary location for our activities and events and is in almost constant use.
The funding allowed us to design and install a new custom staging unit, purchase and install new blackout roller blinds, and purchase new and increased set of stackable café chairs.
This project was match funded through funds contributed by Eyes Open CIC (The Bank Arts Centre) and volunteer hours contributed by The Bank's Team and Debenham Shed.
Read more about project need, impact and outcomes below.
Date: December - February 2025
Funded by: UK Shared Prosperity Fund via HM Government
Project Manager: Jon Betts
Over the past year The Bank has continued gaining momentum in attracting new and larger audiences, however the pre-existing facilities became increasing insufficient and limited the quality and scale of activities we could offer. A Match funding package from UK Shared Prosperity Fund via HM Government (distributed by Babergh & Mid Suffolk District Council Rural Culture & Creativity Fund) supported the phased improvement the facilities in our Main Hall, which is the primary location for our activities and events and is in almost constant use.
The funding allowed us to design and install a new custom staging unit, purchase and install new blackout roller blinds, and purchase new and increased set of stackable café chairs.
This project was match funded through funds contributed by Eyes Open CIC (The Bank Arts Centre) and volunteer hours contributed by The Bank's Team and Debenham Shed.
Read more about project need, impact and outcomes below.
Community Feedback
We identified need for this project through surveys gathering feedback from over 200 visitors, users and patrons on The Bank, identifying that accessibility, approachability, welcoming environment and usability of facilities were main areas needing of improvement. Further our team engaged directly with customers on a daily to further understand the benefit of upgrading facilities which raised concerns over movability and functionality of chairs, stage and blinds. These concerns matched that of our team and external partners who host events at The Bank.
Project Elements
Community Feedback
We identified need for this project through surveys gathering feedback from over 200 visitors, users and patrons on The Bank, identifying that accessibility, approachability, welcoming environment and usability of facilities were main areas needing of improvement. Further our team engaged directly with customers on a daily to further understand the benefit of upgrading facilities which raised concerns over movability and functionality of chairs, stage and blinds. These concerns matched that of our team and external partners who host events at The Bank.
Project Elements
- We had 20 chairs that are used for every activity – these were roughly 10 years old, heavy, un-stackable, damaged and worn. Further, this was less than half of the required chairs needed for a standard seated evening event (take place twice per month) and required our team to hire and transport additional chairs from other local venues and bring heavy office chairs up/down our narrow staircases. All of which was inefficient and growing health and safety risk. The café chairs were also non-stacking therefore we were also unable to clear the room as often requested for private hires, and to meet fire regulations with higher capacities. It was overwhelmingly agreed that the centre would greatly benefit by replacing these with 59 lightweight, stackable, and comfortable seating allowing significantly greater flexibility for activities, increase our offering to the community, and minimise the risk to both our staff and customers when moving the furniture.
- Our Main Hall has 6 large windows fitted with slat blinds which no longer function properly, and their inefficiency poses challenges during events and classes. We proposed installing bespoke fitted roller-blinds in all 6 windows. The replacements will be black out, moisture and fire resistant. This would enhance the privacy, control lighting conditions, provide better insulation and improve energy efficiency, and improve the overall experience for community members utilising our venue.
- Our events stage is 10+ years old, worn, and in-flexible. We planned to design and install a new, permanently fixed fold-out stage, that can be reduced and extended at ease depending on requirements. This will allow for increased space day-to-day (increasing café capacity), increased flexibility for hire events. This part of the project involves creating a bespoke wood structure to be used as a base and storage unit, to be created by volunteers at Debenham Shed, and purchasing the flexible staging components from NexGen Staging.. This design will allow significant flexibility for business and event opportunities, whilst also increasing our daytime capacity.
The Installation of the Staging element became more challenging when on removal of the existing stage, it was discovered the condition of the parquet flooring beneath was quite poor. Our volunteers spent a couple of weeks washing aged carpet glue off with soapy water in order for it to be suitable for café use. This extended the project significantly. Once cleaned, we could continue with the construction and installation of the staging unit.
The images below show the timeline of the staging works.
The images below show the timeline of the staging works.
Project Outcomes
These improvements allowed us to achieve:
- Improved quality and specification of venue
- Greater income opportunities through increased capacities and options (helping make the centre more financially sustainable)
- Improved the experience for all visitors
- Reduced risk to visitor and staff
We hope to create a vibrant and inclusive space for arts and cultural activities, and we believe that the developments have greatly contributed to achieving this goal. We believe this project has helped to future-proof our venue and increase our viability to generating more income, all of which are directly invested back into the community and providing opportunities in line with our aims.
Project funded by
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